Chapter 18
Chapter eighteen
Warner – Lovely Cruise
After lunch, we swam some more, then we went to take a nap, since Jax had closed the pool deck to prepare for the Pride party later that night.
They were going to pull the platforms in and take down the slide before decorating the pool deck and lounge.
Dinner would be another buffet-style in the dining room, but then they would have snacks and drinks in the lounge.
It sounded like a fun evening. The entire cruise had been fun, and it seemed like Cody was having the time of his life, running around with his little friends and being carefree.
Plus, when we were talking about the wine, he’d referred to our life together as home.
I took that as a good sign. Maybe the problem had been that he was too much in his head about all of it.
Once he finally relaxed and stopped thinking about the move-in plan, he eased right into home.
Still, I wouldn’t get my hopes up. I pulled on a fresh pair of swim trunks and a tank top before waking him up from his nap. “Cody.” I rubbed his back. “Time to get up and get ready for the party.”
“Mm…” He rolled over and opened his eyes, smiling when he saw me. “The party will be great, but it also means we go back to shore tomorrow.”
“Let’s enjoy it while we can. Look what I have for you.” I’d packed a surprise for my little. I pulled it out of my suitcase and held it up.
“Whoa. For me? I can wear it to the party?”
“Yes.” I tossed the tank top with PRIDE written on the front with a rainbow shadow behind the letters at him.
He wiggled around as he held it up and sang, “Pride tank, rainbow colors, pride tank, better than the others…”
“Silly boy. Wash your face and get dressed.”
“Yes!” He jumped out of bed and into the bathroom.
A few minutes later, we were headed up to the dining room deck for dinner.
Vince was meeting us there with Joey, but I’d bet some of our other friends would be there too.
I hoped Crow and Skyler would be, since I hadn’t seen enough of them this trip.
We’d have to do some paddleboarding together after we hit the next campsite.
I fully expected the road trip home to be better than the one coming out here.
Once again, the dining room was set up as a buffet. That honestly made it easier for everyone since the guests could show up whenever and get what they wanted, and it had to be easier for the wait staff as well.
“What’s that?” Cody got my attention, pointing at the far side of the buffet.
“Let’s go see.” I held his hand as we walked over to a flat grill set up beside a display case of different cuts of raw steak.
“Pick your steak, let me know how you like it, and I’ll grill it right here while you grab sides,” the attendant explained.
“Yummy. I like steak.” Cody practically pressed his nose against the glass. “Is that a sirloin?”
“It is. Would you like that one?”
“Yes, please. Medium rare.”
The attendant put his piece on a plate. “Name?”
“Cody Schroeder.”
He wrote Cody S on a small card and stuck it under the plate. “It’ll be ready in a minute or two.”
“Thank you, sir. I’m going to pick my sides.” He practically skipped away, leaving me to pick my cut. I chose a T-bone, then followed after Cody.
We sat at a table with a bunch of our friends, including Vince, Crow, Skyler, and, of course, Joey.
I cut Cody’s meat into chunks and poured the steak sauce he liked onto his plate.
He stabbed a piece of meat and dunked it in the sauce.
“Dippy-dip steaky-steak.” Then he shoved it in his mouth.
“Mmm…iz goo’.” I loved how he now jumped right into little headspace, despite this being a somewhat public setting, and even with Jax’s staff around. I hoped that was another good sign.
“Don’t talk with your mouth full.” I still had to be the daddy.
“Sau-wee…”
I glared at him since he did exactly what he was apologizing for. He closed his mouth, chewing and grinning. “I can never stay mad at you.”
He swallowed. “Good. I don’t like it when you’re mad.”
I winked at him. “Good thing I can’t be mad.”
He rolled his eyes but got busy eating. He had filled the rest of his plate with French fries, broccoli covered in a cheese sauce, and fried mushrooms. We had a big basket of rolls on the table as well.
I chose a baked potato with sour cream and bacon bits, along with the same cheesy broccoli. It was all very good.
After we ate and cleaned up, we headed to the other side of the room, where there was an ice cream bar with brownies in bowls that we could scoop ice cream on top of.
“Jax has the best cruises.” Joey poured chocolate syrup over the two scoops of chocolate ice cream on his brownie. “Triple choco-licious!”
Cody laughed at his friend. “I did vanilla in the middle.” Somehow, he made vanilla and middle nearly rhyme, which made Joey snort a laugh at the same time.
We took our ice cream out on the deck. The early evening air was fresh and salty. It would be perfect for the outdoor party. Whatever Jax, Royce, and their crew were planning, it was sure to be as great as everything else had been.
The pool deck looked like a rainbow explosion, with colorful streamers draped from the bar's ceiling and out into the outdoor area, rainbow-shaped pillows thrown over the lounge chairs, and confetti flying everywhere.
Inside the bar area, more rainbows and streamers and fruity drinks added more pops of color and brightened up the space.
Maybe it was over the top, but Cody was ecstatic. He bounced on the balls of his feet and clapped his hands together. “This is so cool. Let’s get drinkies, Daddy.”
“Sure. Come on.” Our Sunshine pup, Todd, was not behind the bar. Two other bartenders were making the drinks. They weren’t frozen either, but they were bright and tasty. I had the Passionfruit Pleaser and Cody tried the Whatamelon-Watermelon Vodka.
He practically stuck his nose into his pink concoction. “Mm…smells good. Fruity, minty, and flowery.” He took a sip and his eyes grew wide. “Ooh…so good.”
“Want to try mine?”
“Nope. I like mine just fine.” He giggled. “I rhymed.”
“Yes, you did. Come on, let's walk around and find some of our friends.”
After mingling and meeting others, Jax announced that karaoke was starting. They had a small deck set up on the side of the pool, and a couple of his staff were organizing the activity.
“What? No drag queen? I think the planners are slipping.” Skyler sat on Crow's lap, looking through the book of songs they had. “Are you two going to sing again?” He pointed between me and Crow, who gave me a questioning eyebrow.
I shook my head. “I don’t think so.”
“Oh, come on, Daddy.” Cody squeezed my leg. “I didn’t get to see that but heard all about it. You have to do it. For me?” He batted his eyelashes.
“Goofball. Whatever. Crow? You up for it?”
“What if we did a different song instead?” Crow asked.
“Like what?” Skyler flipped another page in the book. “Oh, how about ‘Toxic’ from Brittany?”
“How about not?” I wasn’t singing anything from her, not that she wasn’t wonderful and the song great, but it didn’t fit my voice or my style.
“Hmm…I’ll find something.” Skyler kept looking. “’Girls Just Wanna Have Fun?’ That would be awesome.” He leaned against Crow. “Come on, Daddy. Sing that for me.” It was rare for him to pull out the daddy card with Crow, at least in a more public setting, but apparently it worked.
“Okay, okay. We can do that one. We can camp it up. Warner?”
“I guess that could be fun.”
“Yay!” Cody jumped out of his seat. “I’ll put you in for it.”
“Wait a minute, Cody. What are you singing?” I gave him my best daddy-glare.
“Um, ‘Raise Your Glass’ from Pink. That’s a fun party song. Skyler, will you sing with me?”
“No. But I bet Joey will.” He nodded at Joey who walked up with Vince.
“Joey will what?” Joey asked with his own glare.
Cody grabbed Joey and hugged him. “Sing with me.”
“Oh. Okay. Let’s do it.”
“Yay!” Cody cheered briefly before pointing at Skyler. “But Skyler still has to sing.”
“I’ll do a Bon Jovi song. Hmm… they have ‘Wanted Dead or Alive.’ That works.” He sang a Bon Jovi song on our last trip, too, and it sounded amazing. I could see why he would stick to that.
We wrote our choices on the cards provided and Cody and Joey skipped up to turn them in.
Before any of us were called on, some of the others sang, including Danny and Lee, performing a duet version of Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream.” They were pretty good, and ended with Danny leaping into Lee’s arms, then he carried his little bridal style to a lounge near ours.
Cody bounced over and gave them high-fives.
The three pups, Jax, Royce, and Todd, got up next, singing “Wannabe” from the Spice Girls.
They were funnier than actually good. Each of them took one of the parts in the song, and I was pretty sure Jax was singing Posh Spice’s part, Royce was doing Scary Spice, and I think Todd was picking up Baby and Sporty.
The only problem was that they weren’t always sure who was who, kept singing over each other, and stepping on each other as they acted out the song with crazy moves.
They ended up in a dog-pile in front of the stage, laughing their asses off.
We laughed with them until they called up Crow and me.
I wasn’t so sure about the song choice, but I stuck with my original strategy. We both acted as silly as possible, singing in falsetto. We had everyone laughing and singing with us by the end of the song. I was a lot more excited to hear Cody and Joey sing.
After high-fives and hugs, they were next.
“I’m nervous,” Cody giggled into the mic.
“Let’s do this.” Joey posed with a hip cocked to the side and a hand in the air.
Cody stepped up when the music started and pointed to the audience as he sang. “Right. Right. Turn off the lights. We gonna lose our minds tonight. What’s the dealio?” Then he strutted to the side, while Joey stepped up.